


Do The Stars Gaze Back?

by chuxls



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cancer, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, Illnesses, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun is Whipped, Kidney cancer, Lee Taeyong Needs a Hug, Lee Taeyong-centric, Lung Cancer, M/M, Mentioned Kate Argent, Mentioned NCT Dream Ensemble, Mentions of Cancer, Multi, NCT 127 Ensemble-centric, Renal Cancer, Romance, Sad, Sickfic, nct - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:28:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24543079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chuxls/pseuds/chuxls
Summary: "What's the point, it's not like they're going to magically stop me from dying."Taeyong huffs at poor nurse that was currently trying to convince him to swallow the various pills that had been placed in front of him on a metal tray, when he hears a voice speak up from behind him;"You know, with that attitude, you're never going to get out of this hell-hole."-Lee Taeyong is your average seventeen year old high-schooler, apart from one tiny detail, he has stage three lung cancer, and there's only a twenty-six percent chance that he'll survive past the five year mark. Taeyong seems to have given up, deciding to just patiently wait for his inevitable death.That is, until he meets Jung Jaehyun, a twenty year old college student with stage two renal cancer, a blindingly bright smile, and an equally as bright personality to match.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Lee Taeyong/Everyone
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	Do The Stars Gaze Back?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone. Just a couple things that I'd like to say before we begin:
> 
> 1\. I update very irregularly, it's a bad habit of mine and I'm terrible at sticking to schedule. I'll try my best to upload a couple times a week, but I can't promise anything. I'd suggest bookmarking this book, because you might forget about it otherwise :")
> 
> 2\. I am not a doctor nor do I have an real knowledge about cancer, etc. I've tried my best to do research, but there's only so much Google can teach you. Besides, this book is fiction anyway so it doesn't need to be 100% accurate.
> 
> & 3\. Please enjoy my book, and feel free to leave kudos but especially comments! I love hearing what everyone has to say and just chatting with people in the comments in general!

God, Taeyong hated this place. The strong scent of chemicals, and antiseptic always strong in the air, and the aura of death constantly enveloping the hallways.

It had been just about a year since Taeyong had first been admitted into the hospital, and now he was back for yet another round of chemotherapy, _great_. Taeyong had no clue why he had to keep coming back, the doctors told him that it was to stop the cancer from spreading any further throughout his lungs, until he could finally receive a lung transplant. 

Personally, Taeyong thought that was bullshit, out of the sixteen patients in the hospital that were currently on the waiting list to receive some newly-dead person's lungs, he was ninth in line. Which objectively speaking, wasn't _that bad_ compared to being for example patient number fifteen or sixteen, but still, Taeyong was pretty sure he'd be dead before he even made it first in line. Sure, he was constantly being forced to undergo multitudes of new treatments or to take some new miracle pill every month, but no matter what the doctors did, the cancer in his lungs was still spreading, albeit not as quickly as it would be if he wasn't undergoing any treatment at all, but still, it would be a miracle if he survived another year, let alone made it past the five year mark.

Honestly, at this point, there were only a few things that were keeping him from deciding to just kick the bucket. The first being his family and friends, whilst he tried not to think about what their reactions to his death would be like, Taeyong knew that it's probably break their hearts, and he didn't want to cause his parents anymore grief than they had already been through. The second, was the fact that Taeyong was part of the lucky percentage of people that hadn't lost their hair as a side-effect of chemotherapy. That was a huge misconception people made about cancer patients, although lots of people _do_ lose their hair during chemotherapy, not everyone does. Truthfully speaking, if Taeyong had lost his hair, he probably would've started outright refusing treatment long ago, the prospect of being bald horrified him.

_'I wonder if Ruby would miss me if I died...'_ Taeyong wondered to himself as he stared out of one of the windows that was in the hospital's common room, and out into the private gardens where patients were out getting some fresh air _'would she just forget about me after a while? I wonder if dogs feel grief... Do they miss people?'_

Taeyong was suddenly ripped out of his deep train of thought, when one of the nurses, a lovely woman in her thirties called Sunmi, tapped him on the shoulder and cleared her throat.

"Taeyong-ssi, it's time to take your medication."

"Do I have to?" Taeyong asks, dramatically flopping back into his seat, and placing his arms across his chest.

"Watch your arm, you brat!" Sunmi exclaims, glaring at Taeyong's arm to which an IV was attached to, before continuing to try and reason with the stubborn teen "and yes, you do, they're supposed to make you more comfortable and you know that, now stop being dramatic and take your medication before I call Dr. Kim over."

"What's the point, it's not like they're going to magically stop me from dying." 

Taeyong huffs at poor nurse that was currently trying to convince him to swallow the various pills that had been placed in front of him on a metal tray, when he hears a voice speak up from behind him;

"You know, with that attitude, you're never going to get out of this hell-hole."

Taeyong's eyes widen slightly, and he jerks his head in the direction from which the voice came from, making direct eye-contact with a man that looked to be around his age, perhaps a couple years older. 

The man was handsome, Taeyong would give him that, with large eye-bags that gave him a youthful look and skin that looked soft and pleasant to touch, he certainly had a good body as well, that was unusual for a patient, most people in the hospital were so sickly thin that they looked like they were about to drop dead at any moment. Perhaps he was here to visit someone? 

Taeyong glared at the mans handsome face, trying to get his displeasure at his nosiness across, but either the man didn't realise or he just didn't care, because he let out a loud laugh, chest rumbling.

"Noona, do you mind if I take over?" He asks, smiling charmingly at the nurse who blushed and nodded her head, leaving the tray that had Taeyong's medication and a glass of water, behind. Taeyong stared at her with wide eyes, that damned traitor!

He stirred as he felt someone sitting down besides him, and turned his head to come face to face with the handsome man, who smiled brightly at him, sticking out a hand and saying "hi there, I'm Jung Yoonoh, but everyone just calls me Jaehyun, so you should do that too."

Taeyong stared at the man's hand for a moment, before he reluctantly reached out his own to shake it "Taeyong, Lee Taeyong." he may be a pessimistic asshole, but his mother had still taught him basic manners.

Jaehyun smiled even wider at that, seeming happy that Taeyong had spoken to him.

"How old are you, Taeyong-ssi?"

"Seventeen, but I'll be eighteen in a month."

"Oh, that means I'm your hyung, then! I turned twenty at the beginning of the year. You can call me hyung then, ok?"

"Ok..."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, and Taeyong began to feel his face grow hot at the close proximity, so he coughed - Dr. Kim had specifically told him not to do something like that since it strained his lungs - into his sleeve, before proceeding to ask;

"So, what've you got? Although you look too healthy to have cancer, so maybe you're just visiting someone who is stuck in this hell-hole."

Jaehyun cackled, before shaking his head "nah, I'm a patient. I've got renal cancer, or putting it simply, kidney cancer. I was only diagnosed about a month ago, though, and it's only at the second stage. I'm here for my first round of chemotherapy, starting tomorrow. Looks like we've got something in common, huh?"

Taeyong found himself chuckling without even realising it, looking down at the IV that was connected to his arm "looks like it."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what is it?"

"Lung cancer, stage three."

"Oh damn, that must suck. Good thing they caught it before it reached the fourth stage though, I suppose."

A silence breaks out between them, before Jaehyun pipes up again, grinning sneakily at Taeyong.

"But, it won't stay that way if you don't suck it up and swallow those damn pills."

"I don't want to." 

"Well, too bad. Now suck it up, and maybe I'll share the junk food that I've got hidden in my bag with you, later." Jaehyun winks and Taeyong finds his eyes widening, impressed "damn, how did you do that? You have no idea how many times I've tried, they always find it."

"Magic," he replies "now c'mon, pop those pills and we can go stuff our faces with banana chips."

Taeyong looks down at Jaehyun's hand, which was holding a glass of water and his collection of pills out to him, and sighs before reaching out to take both items into his hands, quickly throwing the pills into his mouth all at once and chugging the glass of water.

"Great, good job, now c'mon, let's go!"

Jaehyun latches onto Taeyong's wrist, pulling him up and Taeyong's eyes widen in shock, not used to anyone treating him so roughly. Everyone had started treating him like a glass doll after his diagnosis, and he would be lying if he said it didn't annoy the hell out of him. He quickly found himself giggling, and allowing Jaehyun to pull him along down the hallway and towards his room.


End file.
